Ray Granado wrote:
other than creating a form of art or showing your talent as a model or photographer I don't a lot of benefit to producing nude photography.  Where you can show your iamges or portfolio is limited.  Af your trying to sell your images, how big is the market and who actually buys them.  And where would buyers hang them.  It seems that most nude photography is just a means to getting girls naked for ones self interest.  I'd love to be proved wrong on this or just get some comments.

Well, doubt if you would consider it proof of any sort, but artists have been reproducing the nude form in every media ever conceived, from terra-cotta clay to tintypes to tempera to marble, and every other imaginable medium since the first artist drew the first stick figure (probably of his naked mate) in the mud of a river bank at least 100,000 years ago.  Photography is just one of the latest mediums.  In the future, it will probably be full, solid 3-D holograms.  It doesn't need justified any more than a landscape photo or a closeup image of a flower.

Ray Granado wrote:
other than creating a form of art or showing your talent as a model or photographer I don't a lot of benefit to producing nude photography.

If your prime interest is money, stick to senior portraits.

Ray Granado wrote:
other than creating a form of art or showing your talent as a model or photographer I don't a lot of benefit to producing nude photography.  Where you can show your iamges or portfolio is limited.  Af your trying to sell your images, how big is the market and who actually buys them.  And where would buyers hang them.  It seems that most nude photography is just a means to getting girls naked for ones self interest.  I'd love to be proved wrong on this or just get some comments.

I guess I'll ask why we need to prove you right or wrong on this issue?  You do what works for you we'll do what works for us... fairly simple really.

qphotonyc wrote:
i think part of the idea was to not date the look back when painters & sculptors did it. you look at paintings with clothes and they give away the time period immediately. it's harder to place a 19th or 17th cent nude unless you are familiar with other clues like from art history. that's not to say i'm thinking about that when i shoot, as if anybodys gonna look at my work in the future! for me it's simply an established genre i felt i ought to try to see if it was something that felt right for me or i was any good at.
but it didn't and i wasn't.

Believe it or not, I'm pretty sure guys liked looking at naked chicks back then too....  Some liked looking at naked guys as well.....

Nothing changes....

e-string wrote:
My fine art nudes get shown in galleries and 1 museum across the country (and one piece is being taken to London by the Kinsey Institute), and several have been purchased for private collections (which probably means some rich guy has it on his wall).

I'd hang you on my wall....

e-string wrote:
My fine art nudes get shown in galleries and 1 museum across the country (and one piece is being taken to London by the Kinsey Institute), and several have been purchased for private collections (which probably means some rich guy has it on his wall).

You're going to be on the wall at Jitters tomorrow night. And hopefully after that on someone else's wall!

  I really should talk with David about how he gets his work shown... I'm way behind in that aspect of photography. I take the photos but then they don't go anywhere...

  Doh!

  And just getting back on topic; you should shoot what you're interested in shooting. I don't know if there's any advantage in nude photography; it's really just another genre. And while I do photograph the nude it's just part of what I do. But I will totally agree with the low cost of wardrobe makes it a really good option, especially these days.

  -P-

Paramour Productions wrote:

I'd hang you on my wall....

Me, or one of my images? I've seen enough horror movies... no meathooks please.

Pat Thielen wrote:

You're going to be on the wall at Jitters tomorrow night. And hopefully after that on someone else's wall!

  I really should talk with David about how he gets his work shown... I'm way behind in that aspect of photography. I take the photos but then they don't go anywhere...

  Doh!

  And just getting back on topic; you should shoot what you're interested in shooting. I don't know if there's any advantage in nude photography; it's really just another genre. And while I do photograph the nude it's just part of what I do. But I will totally agree with the low cost of wardrobe makes it a really good option, especially these days.

  -P-

I saw your e-mail! It's too bad I have a hellish bio exam tomorrow evening or I'd totally be there. Good luck!!

I believe Dave just submits to galleries... but the thing is, it's not cheap to do that. Printing, framing, etc.

e-string wrote:

I saw your e-mail! It's too bad I have a hellish bio exam tomorrow evening or I'd totally be there. Good luck!!

I believe Dave just submits to galleries... but the thing is, it's not cheap to do that. Printing, framing, etc.

Bummer -- I wish you could be there; it'd be great to see you. In any case I wish you the best on your exam. I'm sure you'll kick it's ass!

 

Vivus Denuo wrote:
I tried shooting nude once, but the model ran screaming from the room.  Now, I stay dressed.

LOL

Vance wrote:
I see some toughtful answers and some comic ones too. So I will be the bone head.

ARE YOU SERIOUS?!

Come on dude! You are looking for those purist models arent you? Bible thumper models?
Uptight types looking for a white night?

Man.. go shoot something.

yep..Im a bone head..

You're not the bonehead. Sometimes people reveal alot with their questions though.

Vivus Denuo wrote:
I tried shooting nude once, but the model ran screaming from the room.  Now, I stay dressed.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA LMAO!!!

Ray Granado wrote:
other than creating a form of art or showing your talent as a model or photographer I don't a lot of benefit to producing nude photography.  Where you can show your iamges or portfolio is limited.  Af your trying to sell your images, how big is the market and who actually buys them.  And where would buyers hang them.  It seems that most nude photography is just a means to getting girls naked for ones self interest.  I'd love to be proved wrong on this or just get some comments.

Obviously, there are people who are uptight about nudity and art featuring nudity. Presumably, you won't be showing these people your work or trying to sell it to them.

But why do you dismiss art so quickly? You will find that a fair percentage of art hanging in museums, homes, and businesses historically has included nudes. Lately, here in America, we've had this giant stick up our asses about nudity, thanks to an increasingly puritanical atmosphere. But then, just about everything America is doing lately is mediocre at best, so what can I say.

As for the rest of your comments, don't they apply equally to any kind of art photography? I think Ansel Adams shot the landscapes he did just because he likes the land he was shooting. And he had the skill to let us see what he sees, through his art. What's different about nude photography? Why is it OK by you to shoot bowls of fruit, or mountain scenery, or whatever, but naked women, verboten?

I'm a commercial photographer, and I have to shoot certain things to put food on the table. But I still enjoy doing art for art's sake -- and sometimes, that includes nudes.

Paul

Ray Granado wrote:
We are interested in working with models to help build their modeling portfolio. Our company is also trying to build a database of models for our clients to pick from when they hire us to shoot ad campaigns.

That says two things:  you are running a portfolio mill, and you are trying to run an unlicensed (and therefore illegal) talent agency.

And you are questioning the motives of others?

You have gotten lots of answers to your very judgmental question.  Perhaps you could now answer why what you are doing is consistent with Texas law and with the rules of this site.

TXPhotog wrote:
From your MM portfolio:


That says two things:  you are running a portfolio mill, and you are trying to run an unlicensed (and therefore illegal) talent agency.

And you are questioning the motives of others?

You have gotten lots of answers to your very judgmental question.  Perhaps you could now answer why what you are doing is consistent with Texas law and with the rules of this site.

TXPhotog - When did you become a law enforcement officer?
Nowhere in his statement is he saying he is doing anything illegal by texas, or any other state law.
He is neither promising models work. He is simply collecting a database of models for a client to choose from for when HE shoots them. That is no different than a book of models he has shot to present. It in no way even implies a Talant Agency.
Also, a portfolio mill? He is doing nothing more than most photographers, including yourself are doing on here, Helping models build a portfolio.

For heaven's sake man, Get a life already and stop trying to beat on others.

Ray Granado wrote:
And where would buyers hang them.  It seems that most nude photography is just a means to getting girls naked for ones self interest.  I'd love to be proved wrong on this or just get some comments.